


puppy love

by shymoon



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: 4/6 of them work/volunteer at a dog shelter, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Fluff, it's called raise the woof, yes jane named it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:27:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28618038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shymoon/pseuds/shymoon
Summary: Anon asked: “I think you might be my soulmate.” Romantic ParrwardorCathy adopts Kat’s favourite dog from the dog shelter she volunteers at.
Relationships: Katherine Howard/Catherine Parr
Comments: 13
Kudos: 49





	puppy love

**Author's Note:**

> [original post](https://allyouwannaparr.tumblr.com/post/639689768579579904/i-think-you-might-be-my-soulmate-romantic)
> 
> age order:  
> • catalina "lina" de aragón  
> • jane seymour  
> • anne boleyn  
> • anna von kleve  
> • catherine "cathy" parr  
> • katherine "kat" howard

She shouldn’t be sad. Kat knows that.

Why should she feel sad when one of the dogs at the shelter is finally going to get her forever home? Her favourite one too! Watching through the glass window, Kat can’t help but feel a tightening in her chest seeing Juno trying to get her soon-to-be owner’s attention while she is talking with the shelter’s vet. After having seen Juno grown up over these past two years, Kat developed a fondness for the pup, well she hasn’t been a pup in a long time, but in Kat’s eyes, she is still a baby.

“Everything going alright with the girl?” Jane asks once she exits the room on the other side of the window. Kat nods, without taking her eyes off the girl playing around in the other room. “Looks like Juno’s found herself the perfect gal.”

“Yeah.” Kat breathes out.

“Kat,” says Jane in a warning tone, placing one hand on her shoulder.

“I know. I know. I’m not supposed to get attached to the dogs. It’s in the volunteer handbook,” Kat replies, looking down at her sneakers. In her defence, she doesn’t get attached to the dogs ever. She cares about them sure, but she’s always so happy when they are welcomed in a new family and get to leave the shelter. Juno is the only exception.

“I was going to say that you don’t have to keep torturing yourself by supervising them. I’m sure Lina won’t mind that you leave them alone for the last 10 minutes. I think she told me this morning that she knows the girl anyways.” Jane gave Kat a sympathetic smile before looking back through the window. “Want me to go in to tell her that you’ll be back when she’s ready to leave?”

“No, it’s fine, I’ll go in. I might as well go say goodbye to Juno at the same time.”

“You sound like you’re talking about saying goodbye to a dying relative.” Jane snorts.

“I’m a Gemini, I’m allowed to be dramatic from time to time.”

“I thought you said Leos were the dramatic ones.”

“They are! I mean have you met Anne?” Kat gestures wildly as she speaks, hitting her hand on the wall.

“Careful, darling. At this rate, you’ll go in there all bruised up and Juno’s going to be all worried about you.” Jane snickers as she watches Kat wince and rub her hand.

Right.

She still has to say goodbye. Kat takes a few seconds to calm down, then opens the door to find a head of brown curls flick up and an overenergized dog running immediately in her direction.

“Hey, there Juno,” says Kat, bending down to ruffle the dog’s black fur on her back before turning her attention to the woman still sitting on the floor. “I was just dropping in to let you know that I’ll be back in 10 minutes when you’re ready to leave.”

“Sounds good, anything else I need to know?”

Kat shakes her head. “This might sound strange, but can I say goodbye to Juno?”

It’s Catherine’s turn to shake her head. “That doesn’t sound strange at all.”

Kat feels relief washing over her. At least, this would feel less weird. Juno has always been a more hyper dog, even on her bad days, but Kat manages to calm her down a bit so she can say goodbye. It does feel a bit ridiculous, but again, Juno is like her baby.

“Look at you, all grown up. You’ve finally found yourself a forever home, huh? I bet you’re gonna love it there. I heard your new best friend has a private garden and she lives next to a big park. You’re gonna be able to run all you want now. No more dragging me around for a few hours each week.” Kat grins as she scratches lightly under Juno’s chin. “You’re gonna have to behave though, okay? She’s welcoming her new roommate today, and you don’t want to scare her away, do you?”

Juno just sits there, panting, and Kat is pretty sure she understands absolutely nothing of what she is rambling about. She gets belly rubs in exchange though, so it's a win-win situation regardless. "I'm gonna miss you so much." Kat scrunches her nose and closes her eyes as Juno leaps forward to lick her face. "Okay, okay, okay, I know. I love you too." She giggles and pushes herself away to stand up. "Bye, sweet girl."

"You seem like you were really close," says Catherine, reminding Kat that there is another person in the room.

"Yeah, sort of," she admits, a bit shy after realizing she's been talking to a dog like she would to a human. "I, uh, I named her. She was the first dog who arrived here after I started volunteering here."

"That's really cute," she says, her eyes full of admiration as she looks at Juno and then back at Kat. "Would you mind telling me why you named her Juno?"

"It's a bit of a long story."

"I have time. We have a little under 10 minutes left, remember? Make yourself comfortable." She scootches over to grab one of the cushions in the bin and places it next to her. At the same time, Juno prances towards Catherine and lays between her and the cushion designated for Kat.

So, she takes a seat next to her and decides to tell her about Juno's arrival and her first few months at the shelter. "We'd received this call from this person who we suspect must've been a breeder saying that their "neighbour" was moving, but couldn't bring their puppies with them. When we arrived at the given address, the closest neighbours lived a kilometre away and there was no sign of human life on that plot of land. There was just an empty farm and a litter of pups. We're not sure how many there were in total, you know if the breeder had kept a few, but Juno was definitely the runt. She was so tiny, gosh, I was afraid to hold her."

“I can’t believe people would just abandon their pets like that.” She pouts and reaches out to hold Juno as if she was going to disappear if she didn’t.

"Yeah, honestly, we weren't sure she'd survive, but sure enough, this little one was right on track with the rest of her siblings that we rescued in a matter of a few months. She was so rambunctious. You would've never imagined that she was the runt of the litter. She was a real goofball."

"From what I've seen over these past few visits, she's still a goofball," says Catherine.

"Oh, for sure." Kat snorts and continues, "She’s so clumsy. She gets super excited when it's mealtime, but she's excited to a point where she might step in her bowl. It happened more so when she was smaller, and the bowl was considered bigger for her. But even with food or water under her paw, she would just continue on as if nothing happened. Don't worry, she hasn't done this in a while. I doubt you'll find wet paw prints around your flat."

Catherine shrugs. "It'll make for cute temporary art."

"As a fan of pop-ups, myself, I like your way of thinking, but I'm not sure your roommate would appreciate it."

"That's a problem for another time. Plus, anyone who doesn't like Juno is someone I don't want in my life," she coos as she pets her dog's back.

"Honestly, same. She's the silliest dog I've ever met, which is why I named her Juno. 'Queen of the heavens'. She's the farthest from what you think of when you picture a royalty dog, but she absolutely runs this place. If she wants you to pay attention, she will get her way. And somehow, she made everyone fall for her."

“Perfect name for a perfect dog,” she says, staring lovingly at the dog. “I just wanted to say that I know it’s highly recommended that everyone in the household comes to meet the dog before bringing her home, but my roommate is just moving in today and—”

“Catherine, you’re good, don’t worry. I’ve seen how you are with Juno these past few visits, how thorough you were with paperwork even before it was confirmed that you could adopt her. I’m sure you took Juno into consideration when you decided to get a roommate,” she tells her sincerely because that is what she’s observed. She still wouldn’t say that she was excited about this, but she’d be lying if she said that she would rather have someone else adopt Juno.

“Cathy.”

“What?”

“If you’re going to stay, you might as well call me Cathy.”

“I can go.” She really didn’t want to, but if she was overstaying her welcome—

“No, please stay? Juno likes having you around.” In that moment, Kat thought that maybe owners truly do resemble their dogs because she was convinced Cathy had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen.

Needless to say, Kat didn’t stand a chance against those pleading hazel eyes. She hesitates for one second before making herself comfortable again on the magenta cushion. “Why did you choose Juno over the other dogs?”

Cathy beams and starts telling her own Juno story. Kat had been there to guide Cathy around the shelter during her first visit, but she was on her break when she first met Juno and missed the whole interaction.

“Meeting Juno was kind of an accident. You’d had just gone on your break and another volunteer was coming to help guide me around, but she had to bring Juno to Jane first. And boy, was I glad things turned out the way they did. From the moment I saw her, there was this voice inside my head that told me that I had to adopt her.”

In the blink of an eye, 10 minutes pass by. One moment Cathy is telling Kat about the puppy her family adopted when she was growing and the next, Jane is back in the room giving Cathy some last-minute advice before she leaves the shelter. Cathy thanks the veterinarian one last time with a hug and watches her exit the room, leaving Cathy and Kat alone again.

“I guess this is it,” Kat says, a hint of sadness in her voice as she glances down at Juno who seems as happy as ever.

“You know, I don’t live that far from here. I could pass by every morning when I walk her to say hi,” Cathy suggests.

Had it been anyone else, Kat would’ve assumed that they were just asking out of politeness or something. With Cathy though, she feels like she would actually be willing to pass by the shelter every morning. “You really don’t have to do that,” Kat assures her with the shake of the head. “Plus, I’m pretty sure Lina would start to doubt my professionalism if she found out.”

“Would she doubt your professionalism if I took you on a date?”

Taken aback, Kat doesn’t respond at first, but she can’t help the smile that spreads on her lips. “I could always buy her some chocolates to get back on her good side,” she says with a shrug. Suddenly feeling shy, she looks down at her shoes and tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Cathy reaches out to tilt Kat’s head back up with her finger to her chin. “How about we go get ice cream?”

So, Kat swings by Lina’s office and asking her if she can leave early. “Of course, darling,” she says without hesitation.

“You sure?”

“Kat, you’re here nearly every day. Go on and enjoy your life!” Catalina says with a light chuckle. She makes a shooing motion with her hand when she catches the slightest glimpse of hesitation from Kat. “Go, don’t want to keep Cathy waiting now, do you?”

“I-How do you-Who?”

“Jane has been gushing about how adorable you two looked in that room with Juno.”

Kat feels her cheeks warming up again, but she doesn’t really care. How could she when she’s going on a date with such a wonderful woman? Before heading to the shop though, they head back to Cathy’s flat to drop off the books the older girl had been carrying.

The first thing Kat notices as she enters Cathy’s flat is the large boxes by the door. Then, she remembers Cathy mentioning the new roommate earlier and assumes it’s probably theirs. Cathy immediately apologizes for the mess, but Kat waves her off. This was nowhere near the state of chaos that was her own flat.

The second thing she notices is someone suddenly starting to belt some good old Avril Lavigne. And from the moment she hears ‘hey! Hey! You! You! I don’t like your girlfriend,’ Kat’s eyes widen. She could recognize that voice anywhere. And this moment is proof of it.

“Sorry again.” Cathy winces as she bends down to soothe Juno.

“Do you mind if I try something?” Cathy frowns, but shakes her head.

“Annie!” Kat yells, hoping that her gut instinct is right and she isn’t making a fool of herself in front of her crush. Not even a second later, she hears the music stop abruptly, followed by a thud and rapid footsteps approaching them.

She sees the tuft of wild dark curls first and the face of her favourite cousin second. “Kat! What are you doing here? Not that I’m not happy to see you! Just very unexpected… Wait, how do you even know where I live?” Anne pulls back from her tight embrace and looks at her younger cousin quizzically.

“You’re cousins with my flatmate?” Cathy chimes in.

Kat doesn’t get the chance to answer because Anne yells, “oh my god! When I told you to ask out the cute girl from the shelter earlier, _she_ ’s the cute girl you were talking about?”

“I’m not answering that,” Cathy simply says, shaking her head.

“Alright, don’t mind me then. Go on and continue to have fun on your little date,” Anne says as she slowly walks back to her room, but not without adding, “not too much fun though!”

“I’m the cute girl from the shelter?” Kat asks, barely holding back her smile. “Did you have a crush on me?”

“Yeah, what about it?” Cathy shrugs, refusing to look Kat in the eye.

“You had a crush on me… how embarrassing,” she teases.

“You agreed to go out with me!” Cathy retorts with her mouth wide open in disbelief.

“Still embarrassing,” Kat sings as she bends down to ruffle Juno’s fur. “Isn’t that right Juno?”

“Whatever, I’m going to put my stuff in my bedroom. You can join me when you grow up.” Cathy sticks her tongue out and leaves Kat by the front door with Juno. Kat fights back the urge to make a joke about how short Cathy is. She’ll keep it for another time.

When they make it to her room, Kat just stands near the door, leaning against the closet. While Cathy carefully puts her books back on what Kat assumes is their designated place on the bookshelf, she allows herself to look around the room. Her eyes land on a rather silly-looking poster.

“Nice,” Kat says, pointing to the poster displayed above Cathy’s bed.

Cathy giggles. “I found it online. I follow this account where all they post is famous paintings, but they replace the humans with dogs. And of course, when I found out they had a shop, I just had to buy something,” she explains before reaching inside her closet. “The Creation of Adam isn’t the only one I got. I also got Girl With a Pearl Earring, The Two Fridas, and The Great Wave. I’m not sure where to hang them yet, so they’re still chilling in there.” Cathy pulls out three tubes and carefully unrolls them one after the other.

“Wait a minute… The Great Wave didn’t have any humans in it. How can a dog—”

Before she even finishes her question, she is faced with the image of a pug surfing on the big wave. “I mean, how could I not buy it, am I right?” Cathy asks with a grin.

“I think you might be my soulmate,” Kat says between laughs, but regrets it the moment those words leave her mouth. Just as she feels her entire being filled with anxiety, Cathy lets out an easy laugh.

“We’ll have to at least go on a second date to find out,” Cathy says with a wink.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/hauntingfletch) or [tumblr](https://allyouwannaparr.tumblr.com/)


End file.
